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At least for the next few years Longboat Key is likely to share the economic downturn that faces the rest of our country. It is likely that the town will see a reduced income stream from taxes and economic development on the island.
The town may have to explore creative means to curb spending while not impacting services to the point where Longboat Key is no longer a destination for people looking for retirement and vacation homes. I am unable to see much improvement in tourism during the country's economic downturn. The likely hood of significant motel and hotel expansion faces high land costs coupled with even higher real estate and sales taxes.
Longboat Key has not been immune from the housing collapsed that has severely affected the economy throughout the state. Longboat Key is a thirty year old community looking at the future in a competitive marketplace. |
I have been observing the Longboat Key budget process over the past two years. I see a disconnect between the town manager's view of how the island should precede, how the commissioners perceive going forward and many residents who do not like either approach. If I am elected commissioner I will try to make the budget process much more transparent and open to input from the people who have to pay high taxes to own homes on Longboat Key.
The town manager employs outside consultants and contractors to the tune of two million dollars a year in 2008, up nineteen percent from 2007. I grant that much of the work performed by third party contractors is unique of requires specialized equipment. For me consultants are another matter, especially when the residents often perceive the results as substandard. For me the more recent beach nourishment project was replete with design flaws and imperfect execution.
I cannot understand how the town manager and his beach consultants failed to take into account the rapid sand loss from the north end beaches, pumped a half a million yards of expensive dark sand on the north end and did nothing to solve the loss of all that sand in less than three years. I have lived at the north end for twenty-five years and I have never seen the beaches in a more dangerous condition. As of November 2008 there is no sand remaining adjacent to the seawall at the Longbeach Condominiums. The much hated dark sand solution has performed miserably. A lot of taxpayer money has been wasted. We are faced with possible property loss as well as a possibly very expensive and temporary application of more sand that will again quickly wash away.
I believe we need to reexamine the town's use of a single consulting company year after year in many areas of town management, especially where the single source consultants demonstrate a failed track record.
If elected I will look to other communities, similar to ours, that have demonstrated viable solutions that work, and transfer their experiences to the budget process on Longboat. I will try to stop the practice of using the same expensive consultants year after year, as I believe by looking at the ideas of many, one may discern a better way.
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